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Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Look, spelling can be tricky. All those "words" with their pesky "letters" that have to go in a specific "order" to make some sort of "sense?" It's hard. So, we try not to judge too harshly when a decorator makes a minor mistake.

Like this:

In the baker's defense, how often do you use the word "happy" on a cake, anyway?

And abbreviations can sure be problematic:

Then again, how else would we know a cookie can be ready in five mountains?

And when there are multiple words on a cake, it really makes spelling those simple words that much harder!

Baker: "Whoa! Slow down there, buddy! What do I look like, a word processor?"

And don't get us started on "Huked on Phonics":

I'm guessing they saw "in Mississippi" on the order form and gave up.

Besides, when frustration levels are high it's just human nature to invent new words and letters:

You know, like "Aur" or a dotted "u." You barely have a prayer of getting those right.

I'm not sure "Mathew" with one T is a wreck; I've actually met a Mathew, and I've also met a Scot, both with one T. But it boggles the mind if a wreckerator took so much time to make sure the unusual spelling of a name was correct while neglecting to check if any of other standard English words were.

here's what's really sad...the cake with Appy ... that's written on the PLATE. it would be really SIMPLE to wipe off teh chocolate sauce and try again. it's not like you'd have to scrape it off the cake.

Maybe the customer had the Cockney accent and it was a phone order. We certainly know how literal-minded / opposed to double-checking wreckerators can be.

@Anne-with-an-e, I'm a Scot -- in that I have Scottish ancestors.

I think written Modern English will soon be as incomprehensible to modern readers as Old or Middle English -- except to someone fluent in text-speak. Perhaps legions of teenagers will find employment as 'scribes' (great news for parents, but...?). Be afraid. Be very afraid.

methinks English is a second language to these people. or they're high school dropouts.

and you just know "Gud Luck" and Lindsay's cake were done by someone new on the job (check out the shaky piping skills), someone who doesn't DO that job, you know, like the guy mopping the floor who's flagged down by a customer while the bakery staff was on a break and they insisted he do the cake?

Either that, or a 5 year old. That's how they spell. And probably they can't manage a piping back (look at the wimpy, shaky piping job)

If you look closer, it is "Appy Biday" written on the plate, which leads me to believe that Roberta was celebrating the completion of her bathroom renovations in a fancy French restaurant. Unfortunately the "decorator" must not be able to spell in either French or English...

On another note, why is it that most of those horrible spelling catastrophes look like the perpetrator is terrified that their supervisor will get wise to the fact that they are just flying by the seat of their pants and don't really know how to spell?

Now, to be fair, that first one isn't really a cake, it's just a slice on a plate, so it's not like the inscription was piped by a professional cake decorator. More likely a Latino line cook with a squeeze bottle of sauce.

And anyone who can -write- on a -latte- gets my vote, even when they get a little sloppy.

But serously, I once had a cake I had to have (over the phone) someone write my name on it. My name is tricky. It happens to be Morgana Rose. Yeah. Seriously. But instead I got a cake that said:"Morgan, Anna, Rose, Happpy. Brthdy!" I never forgot that.

ack - shouldn't there be some sort of requirement for cake decorators... like a Kindergarten Diploma?

"aur" made me want to throw something - like that cake.

(and after reading all the comments, I don't think it was a Mississippi haters issue - but the fact that it would have been a riot to see the wreckers try to spell the name of the state - really... I'm sure Mississippi is lovely)

Maybe it's just because 10th-grade vocab words stick with me, but I have to second an earlier poster: My immediate reaction to the "Appy" cake was, "Well, that IS a beehive, and 'apiary' is a beekeeping word." While I usually am as appalled as others at insane mistakes, I can't imagine anyone seriously forgetting the "H" on "Happy." Let's quit buzzing about this one.

In the bakers' defense, letters are stupid. Espicially when it takes part of your slacking-off time to write them. And sometimes I like to make new words, too. Like "strinkles". Which is a jacked-up version of sprinkles. Gotta love jacked-up words. :)-B

Perhaps the first one is an attempt by Joe's Diner and Lube to get a shout-out from the snooty restaurant reviewer who only likes fancy restaurants. Unfortunately, it is the line cook's first day, he just out of prison, and he doesn't understand Joe's British accent.

Epic Fail. Every time I look at this, I can’t help but think that this is to big of a coincidence. Me and my friends jacked-up the word sprinkles at least a million times today. Versions included strinkles, strinklies, striles, and sprinklies. I still want sprinkles. And a cake with correct spelling (for ONCE, please let someone actually spell everything correctly! [ my faith in good cakes is being ruined!]). -B

$19.99 for Gud Luck?? How much for Good Luck?? And what's a "gud" anyway? I know cows chew cud and I lost a shoe in mud once. "Pud" used to be a rude word to call someone. Bud is on a flower, dud is a good think with a bomb, can you have a single sud??

I guess that's what you get for ordering now--in 5 minutes, we really don't have time to space it correctly to fit the entire word, so we'll just make do with the key letters so you can figure the rest out yourselves...

And why would you make a 'sign' out of the giant cookie? Is this supposed to be like those homes with signs for their landscaping business stuck in a really pathetic looking yard--where you hope it's just that they are so busy making masterpieces out of everyone else's yards that they don't have the time or energy to do their own, and that their yard is not a true representation of their work??

I think the misspellings on Mathew's dessert distract from the real question--what on earth is that? It looks kind of like a sushi roll, but with foam instead of rice...

Turns out there are at least two people named "Gud Luck" on Facebook, so maybe the cake was for one of them. Not sure what those little shiny balls above the curling ribbon really are--small round candles? (I see wicks??)

Poor Lindsey. Whoever wrote that on her cake was either drunk or in a very big hurry to make sure she got her cake. Lol scary wreckerators..maybe I should be one for Halloween and scare the neighborhood.

I totally read that as "Sappy Birthday" which then made me come up with a mental list of all other potential options you could put on someone's cake.

Crappy Birthday! - for you toilet trained 2yo.Sappy Birthday! - for young loveNappy Birthday! - for great-grandpaCappy Birthday! - for your favorite baseball fan!Fappy....uh....let's not go there...Flappy Birthday! - for the pet birdGappy Birthday! - perfect for the 7yo missing a few teethRappy Birthday - for the 16yo across the street that insists on rattling your windows with his new stereo

I can understand that, in a low-paying job category, some may have poor literacy skills-- so words like "abysmal" would be a challenge. But words like "good" or "better" or "are" or "happy" are at the Grade 2 level!

#1 I think people's hypothesis of French or Spanish speaker make some sense...

#2 You can have fast or accurate, but not both!

#3 They love his toes to a "t" (but not the rest of him?)

#4 flotsam, no decoration, terribly piped horrendously mis-spelled words, for $20?! How did they get "luck" right and not "good"? And given the shakiness, I think they need a doctor...

#5 It's nicely lettered-- I can see how "with" happened: they were so busy focusing on the lettering they lost count of the bumps. But "aur"?

#6 someone with a bad cold phoned in the order? Notice they couldn't spell either "better" or "luck", but they got "Lindsay" right? Or else Lindsay isn't getting lucky tonight...

I just asked my Kindergartner son how to spell good. His answer "G-O-O-D" I'm thinking that cake decorating is not in his future- he can spell!

WV: balne- My balne has a first name. It's O-S-K-R. My balne has a second name, it's "What is it? I can't read this order form. I'll just have to make up the rest. The Weinermobile will be here to pick up their Hot Dog cake in 10 minutes."

Is it just me or is it really hard to believe sometimes that these are actually made by professionals? The one for Lindsay, for instance, has a frosting flower that looks reasonably well made, but then the lettering looks like it was done by a kindergartener.

Many of them I really do believe, and those are the ones that crack me up and make me love this blog so much!

Honestly, one would think that decent literacy and handwriting skills would be non-negotiable in hiring cake decorators who are going to be let loose on the writing part. I didn't think no 1 was a beehive, looks more like a wedge of cake to me. I agree with Ferralyn, my first thought was it was in a French patisserie :-)

You have it wrong. The idea was that the decorator probably saw "Good luck in Mississippi" on the order form and gave up because Mississippi is too hard to spell. And, if you think about it, by default, if the destination was Mississippi, the point of origin for the cake would have to be anywhere but Mississippi.

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